Nothing says the Christmas season like a quick trip to Dallas…or something. That will be the case for the Denver Nuggets tonight as the play basketball for the second day in a row and threw in a quick two-hour flight to boot. They face the Dallas Mavericks, also on a back to back, on the road tonight and look to maintain an eleven-game road winning streak. The Mavericks will present a challenge in addition to the schedule. While vastly removed from the team that made a run to the NBA Finals two seasons ago, there are still interesting pieces on a roster that seems to be on the path of an accelerated rebuild. That acceleration started this past Summer with number one overall pick Cooper Flagg and thus far Dallas has been mediocre this season but there is hope with Flagg flashing and having some big games. Denver can’t overlook them, even on a short window.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (21-7) at Dallas Mavericks (11-19)
When: 6PM MST
Where: We paid for these naming rights charging $8 for a can of soda Arena. Dallas, TX.
How to watch/listen: Peacock, NBC. Altitude Radio 92.5FM
Rival Blog: Mavs Moneyball
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Mavericks | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Ryan Nembhard | Nuggets |
| SG | Cam Johnson | Naji Marshall | Even |
| SF | Peyton Watson | P.J. Washington | Even |
| PF | Spencer Jones | Cooper Flagg | Mavs |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Anthony Davis | Nuggets |
| Bench | Bruce Brown, Jonas Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr., Zeke Nnaji, Jalen Pickett | Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, Caleb Martin, Brandon Williams, Jaden Hardy | Even |
Injury Report*: Aaron Gordon – out (hamstring), Christian Braun – out (ankle), Tamar Bates – out (foot), DaRon Holmes II – out (G-League), Curtis Jones – out (G-League); Brandon Williams – questionable (ankle), Max Christie – questionable (illness), Dereck Lively II – out (foot), Kyrie Irving – out (knee), Dante Exum – out (knee). *Official injury report was not available at time of writing.
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: The #1 Pick
The Nuggets will get their second official look at Flagg tonight. By and large he’s fit the billing of a generational prospect. No, he’s not blowing the doors off everyone night in and night out but no rookies ever do, not Wemby, not LeBron, not Cooper. He’s putting up over 18 points a game (including 24 against Denver in the first meeting) and put up his biggest scoring effort of his young career a week ago with 42 points against the Utah Jazz. Flagg is clearly the future for Dallas and as he gets more and more comfortable in the league they will start running the offense more and more through him. I don’t expect Dallas to be a lottery team long…unless they decide to trade their generational talent for an aging star or something.
The thing to remember: Nuggets need some get back
Speaking of aging stars Dallas traded generational talents for, Anthony Davis had no problem turning back the clock against the Nuggets in the game three weeks ago and was a key catalyst in the Mavericks getting the upset. Despite being on the opposite side of thirty, AD is still averaging a 20-10 double double and can go off on any given night. In addition to the Mavericks starting bigs, they have a solid bench with vets like Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford and Gabe Vincent. The Nuggets will have to maintain their focus if they want to return the favor of beating this team on their home court.
The thing to bet: Peyton Watson over 1.5 threes (+149)
A bit of a gamble here, Peyton only averages 1.3 three point makes per game but he’s currently shooting 41% from the field and I think teams are still not ready to honor that. Peyton finds himself shooting his fair share of “prove it” threes and to his credit he has proven it quite a bit. Both the Mavericks and Nuggets are playing the second game of a back to back. Guys will be tired. While you might argue this means players are less likely to hit threes because tired legs equal short shots, I argue that the fatigue manifests itself far more when it comes to closing out on shooters. A pair of tired teams means more jumpers and less drives and means more defenders choosing to let shooters “prove it” instead of closing out. There, I’ve talked myself into the gamble.
